Sophie Gibson
editor@classactmedia.co.th
Off the top of my head, I’d say there are three main things that are outstandingly apparent in the recent months, two of which I was already pretty convinced, but I now have confirmation that wherever, doing whatever, with whoever, they still hold infallible.
One of those is that I cannot keep a sound mind without staying on the health and fitness bandwagon. Several failed attempts at proclaimed “health benders” and “detoxes” amidst the slippery slope of alcohol (thus automatically sliding into poor eating habits and little to no exercise) and finally one very successful one confirms my suspicious that I thrive when sweat and veggies are part of my daily shenanigans. I am not immune to the slugging effects of hangovers and fried foods. Glad to know I won’t let myself completely slip away, even in the most #yolo (You Only Live Once, for you older crowds) of times.
The second self-discovery is that I really love food. Not much of an epiphany, but it has become increasingly apparent that my life revolves around food. Just as it should, wouldn’t changed a thing. I’m going to go ahead and extrapolate a little cause and effect between these two guys…just a theory… Golly I could talk about food and fitness all day. On to the point of this post; now the third, this one was a little more interesting.
And led to some very interesting experiences in Thailand. Not without plenty of foreshadowing either, but this trip somehow unleashed my entrepreneurial side and a burning desire to start a business. While I’ve always toyed with the idea, I’ve heard far too many tales of failure and loss. However, this particular startup was temporary and just about as low-risk as they come (or so we thought).
Thailand is liberally sprinkled with street food stalls for any taste. While we frequent them at any hour, I’ll admit that my most infatuating encounters were after a night out on the town. It was these fond memories, our inspiring buddies at “The Window” in Kuta and a three-hour boat ride to Taman Negara with a pen and notebook that sparked Nick’s and my interest in starting our own homey “drunk food” stall, as we often referred to it. We scrapped cooking any type of ethnic dish, it wouldn’t stand a chance if compared to the local cuisine. Instead we got sentimental about our French Canadian roots, and remembered that heaven-sent 2am poutine from The Window. For those of you who very sadly are unfamiliar with poutine (poo-teen), it’s a) delicious, b) is made from fresh cut fries, (heavily) sprinkled in cheese curds and dumped with hot gravy and c) should not, under any circumstances, be eaten daily. That is unless you have a superhuman cardiovascular system (that you don’t want to keep).
Our stand was to be called “Monsieur Chip”, and host a variety of takes on the traditional: the classic, Indian curry, Spicy Balinese, Mexican fiesta (avocado and salsa anyone?) cinnamon and brown sugar, among other creations that probably should have undergone some serious testing beforehand.
But then of course, by some strange miracle we were not impulsive, and actually thought things through. It wasn’t that simple, but after some firsthand research, we figured out the simpler the better, and a food stand that has to entertain a giant deep fryer, keep a multitude of ingredients cold and fresh and another multitude of sauces piping hot, was a little above our heads and budgets—especially with our plans of only keeping this up for about a month just to give it a go.
So we fell back on another classic: the grilled cheese sandwich. Also known by many as the beloved “toasties”. Bread, cheese, butter, a little grill to cook it on. Et voila, that was that, our minds were set… we just had to figure out how to do it…
I’ll skip over our long deliberation process of where to set up camp. Essentially, the islands of Phuket and Koh Phangan were attractive options (full of drunks and tourists, and we had scouted locations and supplies), but we fell in love with the easy living of Koh Tao and were itching to start. The chilled vibes made a low risk initiative even lower risk. The moment we decided to bite the bullet, we moved into a bungalow just a gander up the hill from fabulous Sairee Beach, complete with a kitchen and fridge. We later discovered we would share it with an army of insects and lizards to eat them, but it did the trick.
From that day on, it was all business. Gathering our grill, getting a surprisingly legitimate food cart, creating our signage and branding and testing out recipes and timing. Finally we gathered our ingredients, including a dumbbell weight jug of butter and kilos upon kilos of cheese, pepperoni and bacon. We had ourselves a fancy grilled cheese dinner to celebrate and Changs to wash them down, found a Thai employee to work with us to adhere to Thai business laws, and were ready to open shop the next day. “Top Cheese Toasties” was going to offer a classic grilled cheese, pepperoni pizza, grilled veggie, bacon and tomato and spicy chicken. Would you say no to any of those? Ready, set, fire up the grill!
There’s a “but”. Oh, is there ever!
To be continued in a fortnight:
Sophie Gibson, a Canadian citizen with no particular itinerary, has trotted around the Americas, Europe and India and currently finds herself in Southeast Asia. You can follow her adventures on gibsongoesgulu.wordpress.com